City of walls and secrets
by RaixKim4eva
Summary: The chosen ones. A group of people with special powers destined for something greater than high school. With threats rising and romances blooming can they keep their identities a secret? and if so, for how long? Pairings: RaixKim OCxOC OCxOC
1. Sera

**Summary: Imagine you were able to change the past. By altering one tiny thing you could start a chain of catastrophic events… The order of Chaos begins it's final and devastating assault on the Guard in a desperate bid to annihilate them and gain absolute control of the realms. A select group of nine is prophesized to stop them… **_**The leader of pure heart…An ageless warrior…A traitor…A jester…A doubter…A brave young warrior…The fearless one…a lost warrior…A warrior seeded of evil…and one from the midst of suspicion… **_**These nine shall join in unity and defend the realms. But suspicion is making them weaker, as the prophecy predicted and they're in desperate need of a new hope. **

_Her hair is black and thick with bouncing curls that bob around her shoulders. Her eyes are blue, deeper than his, a much more attractive child, he knows. She is their parent's favorite child but he doesn't care, at the age of ten she is the driving force of his life._

"_Hurry!" Sera turns back once, urging her little brother forward. "It's going to bloom for the first time ever I can't miss it!" _

_The boy hurries as fast as his short legs can move._

"_What's going to bloom?" _

"_The flower you idiot the one I've been waiting for, the giant black iris!"_

_He stamps his left foot and stops still. "Don't call me an idiot."_

_She turns impatience making her eyes widen. "I didn't really mean it. Now come on." _

_He follows and asks in youthful innocence, "How do you know it's going to bloom?"_

_Sera pauses long enough to give her brother an exasperated look. "I've been watching it bud for the past three months. Today is the first of spring equinox. Don't you know anything?" _

_The boy takes off again, struggling to keep up. He wants to see the black iris bloom- an event that will occur for the first time this morning, apparently, but not as much as his sister does. It's Sera's excitement and it's the thrill of sharing it that propels him over the grassy hills and into shrub and bush land at the first stirring of a misty dawn._

_Sera stops suddenly, collapses on her heels and moans in relief. "We didn't miss it, look there it is." _

_The boy finally catches up, and, sitting beside his sister he glances longingly at the pristine green stalk supporting a perfectly formed black bud. His head tilts sideways "Is that?" _

"_Of coarse it is!" Sera snorts without taking her eyes off the bulb. "Now shut up and watch it's going to be spectacular!"_

_For all his short life the boy has been aware of his sister's love for all things strange and extraordinary, like unusual flowers, orphaned woodland creatures, vivid sunsets and many times he would just sit in awe of her adventurous spirit, wishing that he too were old enough or large enough, to swing down those cliffs with only a single rope tied around his waist. He shrugs and sits on the moist grass beside her, content in the knowledge that he won't always be four years old._

_A sudden snapping of twigs nearby to their right has both their heads swiveling sharply towards the sound._

"_Whatwasthat?"_

_Sera swallows around a hard lump lodged in her throat, the hairs on her slender body standing on end. She turns to the boy with a brave face. "It was nothing don't be such a baby." another twig, this one closer, startles the boy again, "Is something coming?"_

"_Shh! How should I know? But if you're quiet whatever it is will surely go away."_

_But it doesn't go away. A moment later, a hideous creature of enormous size, in human form but with only half a face, appears through the mist and stands before them. The children scream and stumble backwards, grasping each other. Sera starts shaking. "Wh-who are you?"_

_The creature appears to grow before their frightened eyes "I am Marduke"_

_Sera gasps as if the name some how explains the creatures presence. Her frightened eyes grow as large as cannonballs and she flicks a look at her brother. He pulls on her arm "What did he say?" _

_Sera squares her shoulders. Brushing her brothers question aside, she turns and asks the monster, "What do you want?" _

_In a guttural voice the creature with half a face replies, "I want to take you to a place where it's midnight every day and black irises glisten under a bleeding moon"_

_Shaking her head, Sera take a tremulous step backwards. The creature stretches out one hand, the largest hand the boy has ever seen. He watches as the hand curves around his sister's face, and in that instance his heart is stricken with a certain knowledge that this creature is out to harm. But the boy finds himself unable to make the slightest motion, not even to lift a finger to his trembling lips._

_The monsters hand shifts; the boy's eyes follow it to the top of sera's head. The monster catches his eye and smiles with a half mouth, then squeezes his fingers. Sera screams loud, long and in agonizing tones that reach far into the surrounding woodland. When her body goes limp, the creature lays her body down on the grass, where she moans and grasps her head with both hands; her eyes open wide and staring. The creature stretches one arm upwards and releases an almighty roar that has the surrounding tree's shaking to their roots. And within that roar the boy hears his father's name called for the entire world to hear. He feels the monsters eyes on him and looks up. Staring down with one golden colored eye, the creature slowly and horribly smiles. As suddenly as he came the monster disappears._

_Suddenly Sera hisses, clutching her brothers ankle with a feeble hand. The boy gathers his much larger sister into his arms, cradling her black curls against his chest. "Who was that Sera? What's happening? What's wrong with you?" _

_She tries to speak but blood trickles from her mouth, this scares the boy half to death. "Sera!"_

_Sera screams again and blood begins to seep from her eyes and ears. The boy becomes frantic, his whole body shaking with tremor after tremor. Tears form a crooked path down his small face. He tries to rise in search of help but sera's grip on his ankle momentarily tightens. Her eyes begin to loose their vivid colour "Wait!" She said with enormous effort; and as he leans his ear down to her mouth she whispers her last ever spoken words, "Remember the name."_

"_The creature's name?" the boy glances up as if the strange sounding word still lingers in the mist-filled air before him. But all he sees is a scrawny green plan that has now collapsed and withered, black petals fluttering slowly to the ground._

_With nothing but pain in his heart, the boy screams._

It's the scream of the young boy that finally wakes Eden. Sweat pours off his bare shoulders, quickly chilling him in the crisp night air. He wraps his quilt around his shivering limbs as his bedroom swims into focus and his heart rate slows. A strange sense of relief fills him as he slowly understands; the dream is over, and he has at last woken from another of his vivid recurring nightmares.


	2. An apprentice?

I wake with a heavy feeling that my brain turned to lead during the night. It was the dream again. Well what else is new? For twelve years now I've dreamed of that hideous monster. You'd think now I'm sixteen those childish nightmares would leave me be. If they had some meaning shouldn't I have worked it out by now? Surely.

A sound penetrates the dull throbbing of my head. At first I think its Omi. Sometimes he drops in before school and we catch the bus together. But then I realize today is Sunday and my slowly awakening mind begins registering that this mournful sound is coming from my parents bedroom. Its mum she crying, her sobs grow more intense, even while it's clear she's trying to muffle them with her pillow. I drag myself out of bed, groaning, and pull on a pair of jeans. At mums door I breathe in deeply. Pushing open the door I glance around for dad but I'm not really surprised when I see no sign of him when mums depression kicks in he's usually the first to run. She sees me and attempts to dry her face with the corner of her sheet. And through the tears and red eyes she smiles but she can't hold it for more than a fleeting moment before her face tumbles again. "Cup of tea?" She whimpers. I nod and back out quietly, relived to be doing something useful.

Dad's in the kitchen sitting at the table with his legs folded one over the other, staring into an empty coffee mug. His apathy hits somewhere deep and I turn on him. "What happened to set mum off this time?" he continues staring into his mug I don't dare move either. He finally replies, "Does there have to be a reason Eden?"

He's right there doesn't, but I'm not about to tell him so.

"For what it's worth" he goes on, "she had a disturbing nightmare"

"What her too?"

Dad's eyes flicker my way and I think wow great, a reaction, but then he goes back to staring into his empty coffee mug again. I try to remember the last time we had a normal conversation , but of coarse I don't have to think hard to figure it out. My sister Sera's sudden death was the start of all our problems. But when will it end?

Mum is waiting. So I make her cup of tea just the way she likes it with a touch of honey, and take it into her. She looks better and offers me a small brave smile as he takes the cup of tea from my hands.

We talk about this and that for a while and when I'm sure she's okay I leave her be.

Back in my room I find myself staring at my bedside clock like it has all the answers my family needs to prepare it's broken soul. I know it's only a clock, made of wood and glass mostly, but I picked it up at a junk market a couple of years ago, struck by the idea that it had a whole other life before I found it, in someone else's home, waking someone else up every morning.

I don't realize I'm staring so hard at the clock until it's hands start going crazy, rotating faster and faster as I unconsciously offload some of the frustrated energy pent up in my head. Suddenly the entire clock starts to move off the table and starts spinning in mid air. I've done this a couple of times- moving objects is one of my skills, but never like this. Suddenly and without warning it explodes. Pieces of glass and wood fly across the room. I start cleaning it up before mum and dad come to take a look.

Mum is first. "What happened?" she asks from the doorway. "It sounded like a bomb went off in here." Her eyes take in the debris littering the floor. "It looks like it too are you alright Eden?"

"Ah sorry mum I dropped my clock." Her eyes narrow slightly as she pointedly takes in the number of small pieces. "Were you standing on the ceiling?"

I shrug and give a lame smile.

"Alright just make sure you don't leave any sharp bits okay?"

I assure her I'll clean it up before I go out and she leaves me to take a shower. At least she's looking brighter now. I tidy up the rest of the mess and finish dressing, all the time wondering how my father can stay seated at the kitchen table, while an explosion rocks his son's bedroom just meters down the hall.

Minutes later I'm out, relieved I head straight for the mountain to a place that has become a sanctuary for me. To say this place puts me in another world is an understatement, really. It IS another world.

The first time I walked into the mountain I was four years old. I don't remember much that day except the long rocky climb and trying to get away from Dad, who wouldn't let me out of his sight in those early days. But it wasn't long before numbness sets in and the numbness hasn't lifted ever since.

It was in these hills, buried deep within the south-western slopes of the Great Dividing Range, that Clay found me. For days he spoke to me of great adventures and powers beyond my imagination. The one day this guy with strange blue hair and deep violet eyes took me and led me inside the mountain.

Of course Clay isn't really strange once you get past seeing him without his disguise on. His electric blue hair and violet eyes are that way only because your hair and eyes change over time, a long time. He never seems a day older, though I've known him for twelve years. His body stopped aging the day he turned eighteen.

Clay is still taller than me, though now the difference is barely noticeably. He has this aura about him; I can still feel it after all this time. Part of it is in the way he speaks, in soft tones that demand without arrogance. Part of it is in his violet eyes and their ability to speak to you without words. Over the years we've formed a friendship. For the first five years I was his apprentice, and he's still my immediate superior. But he taught me more than I ever learned in all my years in a mortal classroom.

The rock wall disappears the moment I step up to it and reappears after I have gone through it. As soon as I make my way down the softly lit hallway, I hear Clay call, "Eden I've been searching for you"

The hallway has many door some are used for training the others I've never been in.

I get to Clay's main chamber and as usual I am floored by the tools that do not exist in the mortal world yet. "Very funny Clay you knew I was coming you know everything"

He glances up at me from across the room and gives a little laugh. "You flatter me Eden, you must remember to know everything is impossible" His eyes remain on mine assessing me. It doesn't take long for him to notice the dark circles. "Did you have another nightmare?"

I shrug, glancing purposefully at the 3-D holographic sphere in the centre of the room.

"Sit down Eden"

He sounds serious I know this tone of voice.

"Stop worrying! It's good news" An antique stool appears before me with a point of his finger. I take the hint, sit on it and listen. He stares at me for a minute his head slightly angled. Today his blue hair is contained in a band at the base of his skull. It has the effect of making his eyes appear a deeper violet. "You're being promoted."

I jump off my seat leaping into the air. "Yes" This is fantastic news. Clay grins knowing how much I've wanted this recognition. No one works harder than I do. I would give the guard my soul.

"The tribunal is so pleased with your work that in a ceremony in Athens you will be made a full member of the Guard"

But the reality of his words is hard to grasp. "_Full _member"

He nods, still grinning pleased with my reaction. "But hold on Eden there's something else." I lean in grinning from ear to ear. "You're going to be given an apprentice."

It takes a full moment to register what an honor this is. "An apprentice of my own?"

Clay's eyes follow me. When I stop and search his face for confirmation, his eyebrows lift with a gentle nod of his head.

For the tribunal to give me this responsibility must mean that my wings are almost assured.

"Almost" Clay confirms reading my mind as usual. "All you have to do is train your apprentice , complete your next mission successfully and you wings will be assured by your next birthday"

"_Yes _this is brilliant, Clay. How did you swing it?"

He gives me a tolerant grin. "I'd like to take the credit but you did it with your own hard work" I grin jumping around like a little kid who has just experienced his first sugar rush. I stop suddenly seeing his serious face. "There's a catch isn't there?"

"Not at all," he quickly assures me. "But there is a certain urgency developing…"

"You don't have a lot of time before your next mission"

"How long?"

"A few weeks"

_Weeks? _What could Clay, or the tribunal for that matter, be thinking? To train a small child would take years. It did with me. I remember some of those early lessons- Clay was patient but relentless.

"I only have a few weeks to train an apprentice?" Clay nods "But it won't be as hard as you're thinking. Remember you were an infant when you came to me, an unusual occurrence. She's skilled in her own right" He chuckles, glancing down at his slender, ageless hands. "Quite surprisingly so"

I'm still taking in the part when he said the word "she". "I'm going to be training a _girl?_"

"Correct"

"How old is this girl?"

"Fifteen"

Suddenly the idea of training a girl takes an interesting spin. "Oh really?"

His head tilts with a small smile.

"What's her name? Do I know her?"

He remains silent and my body hair starts to prickle all over my skin with a sense of foreboding.

"Her name is Keiko" He says softly.

Even though it's an unusual name, it draws a blank. Clay keeps looking at me as if I should know this name. Slowly recognition deep inside my head starts taking place. _Keiko…_

"I think I do know the name. Remember when I was younger I had a best friend called Raimundo? His kid sister's name was Keiko. But you said my apprentice wasn't a child, The Keiko I remember was a wild little monkey who used to follow Rai and the rest of us guys everywhere."

Clay stares at me stubbornly, a funny knowing smile tugging at his lips.

"No way Clay I'm telling you it can't be her, tell the Tribunal they've made a mistake this time, Keiko's a pest, she'll just get in the way,"

"When was the last time you spoke to Keiko?" We have mixed age classes at school it's possible we have a class together. But surely I would have noticed, She's Rai's sister after all.

Clay is waiting for an answer and for a minute it's hard to recall what he asked. "Oh yeah, I haven't seen Keiko in a couple of years,"

He gives me one of his superior knowing smiles.

"That's what I thought."


	3. What the F

**Keiko**

I'm late. Of course this is nothing unusual. But if I hurry I could still make the bus, Otherwise I'll be walking…Again. School is such a waste of time. I'd rather be on a mountain top, abseiling down a hundred-meter cliff with my BF Kimiko, talking about Kimiko I am so excited she'll be joining me soon at that hell hole I call school well… soon enough.

"Keiko!" Mums voice rings out from down stairs. "Ten minutes! Can you make it?"

My brother Rai surprises me at my bedroom door, leaning is back against the door frame, shaking his head and looking superior and smug as usual. He's fully dressed in his school uniform; back pack slung casually over one shoulder, towering over me. When did he grow so tall?

"Yeah sure" he says sarcastically, knowing perfectly well mum won't hear a word. "She'll make it mum."

He just wants to annoy me I take a slow calming breath.

I shove him backwards into the hallway and slam the door shut "I need a lock" I mutter walking over to my wardrobe and grabbing my school uniform in bits and pieces out of the wardrobe. Throwing everything on as fast as I can with my blue shirt half hanging out I brush my long blonde hair into a high ponytail.

When I open the door Rai's still standing their, startled I take a step backwards. Regaining my equilibrium, I push past him. "You need a life brother."

He follows me down the hallway. "I'd have a better one if you could take care of yourself for a change."

This comment has me spinning around. But I shouldn't be surprised really. For as long as I can remember Rai has taken the "big brother" role way too seriously. When we were young our father walked out on our family, and Rai decided to take on the parental role. I decide to ignore the comment and jump down the stairs two at a time, running straight into the kitchen.

"You don't have time for breakfast, I'll give you some money and you can pick something up at the school canteen. Something healthy," My muscles tighten and I give my brother the most evil look I can muster over my shoulder. I pick up the pairing knife off the counter and grab an apple from the fruit bowl, I go to cut it in half but Rai can't resist one more cautionary warning "Be careful of that knife it's new and really sharp you might cut yourself." I groan and spin around. "Yes _Dad_" The moment the word slips out of my mouth I wish I could take it back. Rai's bright green eyes become dark and distant, he gives me a hurt look and walks out. I sigh and go to cut the apple in half, still dazed the apple slips and the knife slices through the top of my finger.

Of course now that I really need him Rai's no where to be seen. I grab a paper towel and rap it tightly around my finger. The cut's deep I'll probably need stitches. "Heal you stupid finger! Heal _heal!_"

"What's wrong now?" Rai asks from the doorway, I quickly drop the paper towel and hold out my hand. "If you must know I cut my finger Okay?"

He comes over quickly grabbing my finger carefully viewing it from every possible angle and raises his eyebrows at me. "Is this some kind of joke?"

I snatch my finger back and lift it up in front of my face studying it from all angles "What the?" I whisper. There's no blood and more remarkably there's no cut nothing!

"You know sometimes I think you're as weird as Eden" This comment has my head snapping around. "You're not bringing Eden up again are you?" I ask. He does this all the time knowing full well how I've felt about his ex-best friend since we were young. Eden's in my history class and never once has he acknowledged my presence, I don't think he knows who I am at all!

A loud rumble outside has Rai tugging on my arm.

"Come on it's the bus"

Quickly I look for where I put the apple. I grab it off the chopping board and look for where I dropped my bag. I pick it up of the kitchen table and run outside. Just outside I glance at the half carved apple in my hands. What I see gives me a sudden start so much so that the apple flies out of my trembling hand. But even on the moist grass where it sits, I can still see the rich red blood stain on its skinny skin.

Blood.

My blood.

From the cut that doesn't exist.

**Eden**

Keiko Pedrosa is going to be my apprentice what lousy luck! It's not that I mind that she's a girl. It's just…When I imagined my apprentice, I imagined an eager young kid, who would listen in awe as I tell them about this amazing new world. But Keiko Pedrosa?

I walk into my history class quickly scouring the back row, checking for an empty seat. I chose history six months ago thinking I could breeze through the course, with my personal knowledge on the subject, but I never counted on Croc-face Culler taking the class. He's had it in for me for years. I don't know why I've never done anything to him, not that I recall. I only started calling him Croc-face after he put me in detention for a week for not having my shirt tucked in three times in a row. How pathetic! I was punished for growing too fast for my uniform. It's not my fault he has a massive jaw filled with huge white teeth.

The man just hates me.

Out of the corner of my eye I see a girl diving for the last empty seat in the back row. I take a quick look around and realize that the only other seats are right up under Carters nose or worse right next to Rai's girlfriend Natalie. The thought of these two scenarios has me pushing roughly past the girl making for the seat with my name on it. She falls to the side landing right on Chloe Smith's lap, just as I slam down on the seat claming ownership.

"Hey!" Chloe calls out while helping the girl up, giving me an irritated look. "What's with you today?"

"Sorry." I mutter. "I have to get the back seat Chloe. You know how carter hates me."

"That's because you're always ticking him off!" She snaps

"No way"

She gives me a little disbelieving laugh.

"Are you alright?" I ask the other girl, who's now standing and looking around for somewhere else to sit.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to knock you over like that," She nods and kind of gulps, her eyes flicking away across the room.

"Here" Chloe says to the girl, offering up her prime back row seat. Then looking at me she says. "I don't have the same hang-ups as you Eden; I think Mr. Carter's sexy."

I feel my jaw drop so low it's a wonder it doesn't hit the floor. I can't believe she just said that, Carter sexy? No way.

Chloe takes off and the girl sits in the seat across the aisle. Carter walks in and starts muttering something but I can't focus on the man, my minds doing a double take on the girl beside me. She's sitting examining a finger held up to her face like it's the first time she's ever see one. As she does this I recognize something familiar about her. She realizes I'm staring drops her finger and goes blood red in the face.

Apparently Carter's noticed my preoccupation too. He wonders down the centre isle stopping about half way. "Is there a particular reason your interest in the opposite sex is far more obvious this morning Mr. Roberts? Did you wake up and realize you're of the male persuasion?"

The class sniggers.

"No sir," I mutter, hoping to get him off my case. He looks at me like I'm a pathetic excuse for a human being and walks off. I sneak another look at the girl beside me, searching for that something that will trigger my memory of who she is. She notices and glances at me briefly before dropping her eyes to her desk. But that's all I need. Her eyes are big and a deep green just like Raimundo's.


End file.
